Free Smart Home Software

Building a smart home may seem easy at first, as countless household devices now come with smart features. You can buy, for example, a robot vacuum cleaner that can be controlled through a mobile app, or a thermostat that allows you to adjust the heating remotely. Smart bulbs, plugs, motion sensors and cameras also fall into this category — essentially, anything with some form of communications connection, such as Wi-Fi.

However, these devices have one major drawback: they operate through their own mobile apps. After a while, you may find that your phone is full of different smart-home applications, while your devices, despite being “smart”, are unable to work together.

Home Assistant offers a solution to this problem. It is free, open-source smart-home software whose most important advantage is that it allows devices from different manufacturers to be connected within a single system.

What is Home Assistant?

Home Assistant is a centralised smart-home solution. It allows devices that originally required separate applications to be managed in one place, making it possible to create a much wider range of automations. Home Assistant also has its own mobile app, which can be used to control every integrated device.

What does automation mean?

A smart home is not smart simply because you can switch on a light from your phone. It becomes truly useful when it can respond independently to certain events.

An automation usually consists of three parts:

• Trigger: what should start it?
• Condition: under what circumstances should it run?
• Action: what should the system do?

For example:

• the trigger is motion being detected
• the condition is that the sun has already set
• the action is to switch on a light

In Home Assistant, the trigger, condition and action can even involve devices made by three different manufacturers.

Example automations:

Wake-up routine: 15 minutes before the alarm set on your phone, the bedroom lighting slowly begins to brighten. At the moment the alarm goes off, the radio starts playing quietly, and then the blind gradually rises.
Arrival scene: if you arrive home after dark, the entrance and living-room lights switch on, the heating is set to a comfortable temperature, and your favourite playlist starts playing.
Storm protection: if the weather forecast predicts a storm, the system lowers the shades, closes the motorised roof windows, and sends a notification if any window has been left open.
Film pause: when you pause the film, the ambient lighting becomes slightly brighter; when you resume playback, it automatically dims again.
Laundry finished: Home Assistant recognises from the power consumption that the programme has ended, then announces through the speaker that the laundry is finished and sends a notification to your phone.

Is it completely free?

The Home Assistant software itself is free and open source, and no mandatory monthly subscription is required to use it. However, this does not mean that an entire smart home can be built at no cost. You need a central device that runs continuously and hosts the Home Assistant software. This can be a Raspberry Pi, some form of mini PC or a virtual server. For those who do not want to deal with the installation, a pre-installed version is also available: Home Assistant Green. This is generally the most convenient option for beginners.

Local or cloud-based?

Similar smart-home hubs, such as solutions from Google or Amazon, are designed around cloud-based operation. These can also operate locally to a certain extent, but the overall system is closely linked to the provider’s cloud, which requires an internet connection. By contrast, local operation is a core design principle of Home Assistant. The automation engine itself runs on a server in your home, even without an internet connection. From a security perspective, it is also worth noting that if something cannot be accessed over the internet, it is much more difficult to hack, as it cannot be reached remotely.

Does that mean I cannot access the Home Assistant server running in my home from my phone when I am away? Essentially, yes, but there are several ways around this. Home Assistant offers its own cloud-based remote access service, Nabu Casa, which is a paid but optional service. Alternatively, remote access can also be set up free of charge using a VPN.

Which technologies does it support?

Smart-home devices can use several different communications technologies.

Common examples include:

• Wi-Fi
• Zigbee
• Z-Wave
• Bluetooth
• Matter
• Thread

Home Assistant can manage several of these systems at the same time. In some cases, this may require a separate radio adapter or unit.

This means that you do not necessarily have to commit to a single technology or brand. For example, you can use a Zigbee motion sensor, a Wi-Fi switch and a Matter-compatible light within the same system.

Anyone interested in exploring the subject in greater depth can find all the relevant information on the Home Assistant website by clicking HERE.